The Reconciliation Exchange project, called ‘Changing the Score’, has been developed by RMIT and Bluestone Edge in partnership with Richmond and the Instituto Brasileiro deb Inovações em Saúde Social (IBISS).

The group will visit ‘favelas’, which are densely-populated slums located within, or on the outskirts of Rio, that are challenged by poverty and crime.

The players will use their knowledge and experiences as elite and professional athletes to see if they can enrich the lives of those living in the disadvantaged communities.

Already, Richmond’s Daniel Jackson believes there are great similarities with Australian and Brazilian cultures when it comes to passion for sport.

“I think Brazil will be an absolute reflection of Australian culture, and from what we’ve seen on the beach in regards to their sport and their music, they’re very, very passionate people,” he said.

“Hopefully, the things we’re held in high regard for at home, will actually put us in good stead here to maybe have a little bit of an influence over the coming few days, when we get into the real Brazilian culture, get into the favelas, and meet some of the kids.

“It’ll also be great to see what we can learn from them to take back to Australia and grow our influence there,” he said.